


A Little Rain Must Fall

by danceswithhamsters01



Series: Reddit Prompts [12]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: A quiet day at Vigil's Keep, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 04:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16527650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswithhamsters01/pseuds/danceswithhamsters01
Summary: Based on a prompt from r/dragonageThe Warden-Commander stops to admire a thunderstorm.





	A Little Rain Must Fall

_**Prompt 6:** Image prompt [Thunderstorm going across the country side]_

 

_Vigil's Keep, several months after the second darkspawn attack._

It wasn’t magic, but it made her blood and bones sing with a thrill anyway. There was an eagerness in her step as she climbed the winding stairwell toward the tallest intact tower of the keep. It had a large window that hadn’t been broken during the attack. It would be an excellent perch to watch the storm.

 

After a brief moment to catch her breath, she drifted toward the large, low window and marveled at the view before sitting on the floor, her arms resting on the windowsill. An unknowing smile crept on to her lips as she observed. The sky was darkening. Massive white cottony clouds had gone from pure white to dusty greys to near-black. From something almost friendly to angry, threatening, like a barn cat snarling at a dog getting too close for comfort. Far below, the few trees that dotted the landscape had begun to sway to the song the wind played as it grew in intensity.

 

Down below, but closer to the tower than not, the seneschal was grumbling and pacing the throne room. He looked up uncertainly as one of the Grey Wardens casually strolled in from the training yard, his ebony hair something of a mess thanks to the wind playing with it. He recognized him. The former Arl’s son, Nathaniel Howe. Not that familiarity was any comfort. Garevel cleared his throat.

 

“I don’t suppose you’ve seen the Commander lately?” he asked of Howe.

 

“She’s a mage. Try the library or her office,” came the bored reply. The Commander was nothing if not predictable when it came to her downtime.

 

The seneschal glowered, looking as if he’d eaten a lemon. “I have. She was nowhere to be found. I have some rather important matters that require her attention. And more letters from Weisshaupt. I think they’re getting rather testy from a lack of replies.”

 

“And this has anything to do with me because…?” the senior Warden yawned.

 

Garevel threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “You’re a Warden. Do your… thing. That thing that lets you find each other. She’s evaded me all damned morning! I am NOT going to sit through one more tirade from Bann Frostmane alone! If I have to suffer, so does she!”

 

Nathaniel couldn’t hold back the laugh that burst from his throat. Elias Frostmane was the new bann of the city of Amaranthine, the successor to Bann Esmerelle. While just as unpleasant as his late-aunt, he at least had no inclination toward hiring assassins or other forms of betrayal and was reportedly respected by his subjects. Unknown to all but Nathaniel himself and the Commander’s husband, Zevran, Esmerelle’s “suicide” had been anything but. He and the elf had taken grim pleasure in getting rid of the former bann after discovering that she’d hired Antivan Crows in an attempt to be rid of Sevarra and the mage’s demands that laws actually be obeyed.

 

“Fair enough. I’ll look, but I promise nothing.”

 

The seneschal grumbled in resignation after nodding. A loud rumble of thunder gave the Warden an idea. He ducked into the hidden hallway behind the throne room before pausing to close his eyes. He could feel… 5, no, 6… other Wardens nearby. Other Wardens felt like darkspawn, yet not. It was hard to put into words. They felt… less threatening, perhaps? Comforting, rather than distressing. He furrowed his brow and tried to feel for the stronger presence that was the Commander. She’d been a Warden longer than the rest of them and had a somewhat “louder” signal.

 

He opened his eyes. _Up_ , his sensing had told him. He smirked and made for a nearly-forgotten set of stairs.

 

A flash of lightning made her smile. _If nature were a person, she’d be a storm mage,_ she mused to herself.

 

She was lost in memory, recalling the first time her master had brought her to the top of the Circle’s tower. Her first proper lesson after her mistress had died. After many years of being told to hold back, to see magic like a snake ready to turn and bite, she’d been told something different on that rooftop. _Lean i_ _n. Let it free. Work with it, not against it._ _Acceptance, not fear._ Summoning that first thunderstorm had been something of a rebirth.

 

A voice that wasn’t her old master’s shook her from her reverie, making her jump ever so slightly.

 

“Is it a mage thing to get high up when it rains, or just a you thing?” he smirked.

 

“Call it note-taking, if you will,” she replied. “I like watching the lightning. One has to study to get better at something, after all.”

 

A purple bolt shot from the heavens to the ground below. Both of them gasped in awe.

 

“Still haven’t gotten the trick down to pick what color bolt you shoot, yet?” he chuckled.

 

She pouted, pouted!, arms folded in front of her and lower lip jutting out for a moment. “No. Not yet. Not for a lack of trying, though.”

 

They sat in silence watching the storm as it drifted by. Once the rain had lightened up, he spoke again.

 

“Garevel is practically tearing his hair out in the main hall looking for you.”

 

“That’s a bad habit to have, if you don’t want to go bald, that is. Frostmane’s come to visit, I assume?” she replied.

 

“His exact words were: If I have to suffer, so does she.”

 

A laugh, a light flighty sound. “Very well, then, let’s rescue the poor little seneschal. Maybe the bann will be useful for once. Target practice, perhaps?” she winked.


End file.
